Darius POV (Her Silver-grey eyes)
1289 Words
I watched Seraphine’s small wolf bolt for her cabin, fear rolling off her in thick waves. The pack gave chase, excited by the scent of prey.
My wolf snarled, torn between the urge to protect and the rage still burning from last night’s revelations. She had been with Leo. Had let him mark her.
I howled again, sharper this time, ordering the pack to hold back. Some obeyed immediately. Others led by Jax’s influence hesitated before slowing.
I shifted back to human form and strode toward her shattered cabin door. The sound of frantic movement came from inside. She was trying to shift back.
The pack gathered behind me, murmuring and laughing. Their bloodlust was palpable.
“Enough,” I growled without turning around. Power rippled outward. Most fell silent.
Seraphine’s wolf had been beautiful, sleek dark fur, silver-gray eyes filled with defiance even in terror. But the way she had trembled… it awakened something dangerous in me. The need to shield her clashed violently with my need for answers about Eden and Melody.
I pushed the broken door open wider and stepped inside. She had managed to shift back and was pulling on clothes with shaking hands. Blood still streaked her face from the earlier beating. The hickey on her throat stood out like a brand.
Her silver eyes snapped to mine, wide with a mix of fear and fury.
“Get out,” she hissed.
I closed the distance slowly. “You ran.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You don’t get to change your mind when I call a pack run.” My voice was low, controlled. “You’re my beta, remember? Whether the title means anything to them or not.”
She finished buttoning her shirt, hiding the marks on her body. “Then I quit.”
I laughed darkly. “You don’t get to quit either.”
The pack hovered just outside the broken doorway, listening. I could feel Jax’s calculating presence among them.
Seraphine noticed too. Her shoulders tensed, but she lifted her chin. “What do you want from me, Darius? You expose me, make me a target, then act angry when I try to survive?”
“I want the truth,” I said, stepping closer. “About Eden. About Melody. About why a submissive wolf would stay in a place that wants her dead.”
She looked away. “I already told you what happened to them.”
“Lies.” I tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet my eyes. “You helped them escape. Dom confirmed it. So why protect the location of my sister when I could offer you real safety?”
Her laugh was bitter. “Safety? From you? Your family sent Eden back to her abuser. You came here for revenge, not justice. I’ve seen what your version of protection looks like.”
The words stung more than they should. I released her chin but didn’t step back. Her scent peaches, fear, and that faint trace of arousal she couldn’t hide wrapped around me.
“Leo is dead,” I said quietly, watching her reaction.
Her expression didn’t change, but her pulse spiked. “People disappear in this pack all the time.”
“Did you kill him?”
Silence stretched between us. Outside, the pack whispered.
Finally she whispered, “Would it matter if I did?”
My wolf surged forward, intrigued rather than angry. This broken, defiant woman continued to defy every expectation.
“It matters,” I said, voice rough. “Because if you did, then you’re not just surviving this pack. You’re hunting it.”
She searched my face, as if trying to decide whether I was setting a trap.
The pack outside grew restless. Jax’s voice carried. “Alpha? Should we drag her out for the run?”
I turned my head slightly. “Go. All of you. The run is canceled.”
Grumbling rose, but they dispersed under the weight of my dominance.
When I looked back at Seraphine, she had wrapped her arms around herself. She looked small. Exhausted. Dangerous.
“You have one more night,” I told her. “Tomorrow, you tell me everything. Or I withdraw every ounce of protection I’ve given you.”
She swallowed. “And if I do tell you?”
“Then maybe I stop seeing you as the enemy.”
I turned to leave, but her soft voice stopped me.
“Darius… why does it bother you so much that I was with Leo?”
I paused at the broken doorway, back rigid. The memory of his mark on her throat made my wolf snarl with possessive fury.
“Because the thought of his hands on you makes me want to burn this entire territory down.”
I didn’t wait for her response. I walked into the night, leaving her standing among the wreckage of her cabin and the wreckage of whatever was growing between us.
Darius’s heavy footsteps pounded behind me as I slammed into my cabin, the door exploding off its hinges from the force of my desperate shove. Wood splintered violently. My smaller wolf form scrambled across the worn floorboards, claws scraping uselessly as panic clawed up my throat.
Shift back, I begged my wolf silently. Now!
But terror had locked her in place. The submissive instincts I had suppressed for years surged forward under the crushing presence of so many dominant wolves closing in.
I darted toward the only sanctuary I could think of the tiny bathroom, and wedged myself into the narrow shower stall, heart hammering.
The door to the cabin crashed open wider. Darius’s scent, wild forest, leather, and raw power flooded the space, overwhelming everything else. I heard him pause, then his footsteps approached the bathroom.
He filled the doorway, naked and imposing, emerald eyes blazing as they locked onto my trembling brown wolf form. I kept my silver eyes lowered, body pressed against the cold tiles.
Darius took one step inside. His wolf stirred visibly beneath his skin, but he held back.
The shift tore through me in a brutal rush. I forced it faster than any submissive should ever attempt. Bones cracked and reformed at breakneck speed. Fur receded into peach-gold skin. Pain exploded across every nerve ending, like being skinned alive and set on fire. A choked whimper escaped my lips as I collapsed onto my side in the too-small cubicle, muscles spasming violently.
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